The Invisible Girl: A father’s heart-breaking story of the daughter he lost

This is an unusual acheivement, by turns hilarious and utterly tragic. The hilarity is supplied by Debbie (D.A.) Barham in many excerpts of published articles and personal e-mails. I think that her wit made her a worthy successor to Peter Cook; every bit as unique and uncompromising. Debbie's tragedy - an exceptionally gifted woman destroyed by anorexia - breaks your heart. The reader is steered, from chapter to chapter, between experiencing helpless laughter at Debbie's laser-beam wit and horrified sadness at her disintegration. Peter Barham clearly tried to understand his daughter's anorexia, and conveys his own helplessness as he and Debbie's step-mother tried to help her. There are also powerful testimonies by many of Debbie's work-colleagues on how they became aware of her illness and attempted numerous interventions. Debbie's own references to her eating disorder punctuate many of her articles, often with startling cruelty. We get to know her complex personality and her brilliant, sometimes savage wit. As I savour Debbie's dazzling comic talent throughout the book, I remember reading Clive James's moving tribute to her in 2003 and sorely wish she was still here. Thankfully, many of her articles for the Independent can be found online (highly recommended) This is an extremely moving book that pulls at your emotions. While I admire Peter Barham's strength in telling the whole story (as far as he was able to) I think that a further (perhaps more suitable) tribute to Debbie Barham - and one that she would appreciate - would be a published collection of all her major articles including a compendium of all her finest gags. God bless, and Cheers, Debs.

Fantastic beginning, very gripping. It's so sad it had me in tears, however I found the middle part very repetitive.

I have to admit, after just finishing this book, that I agree in part with all previous reviews, in that it is a fascinating story about a hugely talented girl who accomplished so much at such a surprisingly young age, but it also explores issues regarding anorexia which perhaps have not been properly researched. I knew very little about anorexia and very little about Deborah Barham before reading this book. As a memoir and tribute to his daughter, I think Peter Barham has produced a moving account of her short life, revealing his regret about his lack of involvement in it, the bittersweet memories of what time they did spend together and perhaps more importantly a comprehensive account of her career with plenty of humourous examples thrown in for good measure. I don't think it is foremost a book about anorexia and I did feel (as previous reviews have mentioned) that the disease was almost credited to some extent as being the driving force behind her creativity and work-driven existence. I'm not sure that necessarily sends out a particularly helpful message about eating disorders and left me fealing a little bit uneasy. All in all though, I'm glad I read this book and learnt something of the person whose comedy writings, unbeknown to me, I had been appreciating for years.

Great book

I would have never come across this book without amazon . Brilliant